DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45586#0048
39s
Division II Section A Part 6
execution of the fine details of the foliage and flowers is most exquisite, as may be
judged from the drawings in Ill. 343, or from the rather faint reproduction of a photo-
graph in A. A. E. S. II, page 362. I believe that this work is earlier than that of the
more highly conventionalized, and less well executed, details of the Roman gate here
at Sic, or of the temple at cAtil1 which is dated 151 a. d., although the carving of
Frag. C resembles very closely the frieze of the temple at Hebran,2 dated 158 a. d.,
which again might have been executed by the same hand as the portal of the Ka-
nawat Seraya.
Sculpture. In addition to the sculptures discovered here that were definitely related
to the buildings, like those presented in Ills. 333 and 334, and the fragment of a
ύΐ ‘ Γ 1 3 *
in· 343.
statue shown in Ill. 337, there were found numerous torsos, chiefly of male statues,
like A in Ill. 344. These indicate that there were many statues set up in the sacred
precinct, each having, no doubt, its pedestal and inscription, like those which stood in
the porch of the Temple of Bacal Shamin, and the one recently found in front of the
temple of Dushara. They are of small importance artistically, they are mostly of life
size, and are interesting only as showing the attempts of the Nabataean artists to
execute folds of drapery in the hard basalt. That they were covered with a fine stucco
and painted is evident from remains of fine plaster still adhering to some of the
fragments; but no vestige of the original colours remains. The most important piece
of sculpture discovered here by the Princeton Expeditions was a relief in basalt illustrating
the cult of Mithras which was found in front of the Temple of Dushara (Ill. 344, B).
The slab is almost intact, it measures 58 by 72 cm. and is about 10 cm. thick. The
1 cf. A. A. E. S. II, p. 343.
2 Div. II, Sect. A. Part 5, p. 324.
Division II Section A Part 6
execution of the fine details of the foliage and flowers is most exquisite, as may be
judged from the drawings in Ill. 343, or from the rather faint reproduction of a photo-
graph in A. A. E. S. II, page 362. I believe that this work is earlier than that of the
more highly conventionalized, and less well executed, details of the Roman gate here
at Sic, or of the temple at cAtil1 which is dated 151 a. d., although the carving of
Frag. C resembles very closely the frieze of the temple at Hebran,2 dated 158 a. d.,
which again might have been executed by the same hand as the portal of the Ka-
nawat Seraya.
Sculpture. In addition to the sculptures discovered here that were definitely related
to the buildings, like those presented in Ills. 333 and 334, and the fragment of a
ύΐ ‘ Γ 1 3 *
in· 343.
statue shown in Ill. 337, there were found numerous torsos, chiefly of male statues,
like A in Ill. 344. These indicate that there were many statues set up in the sacred
precinct, each having, no doubt, its pedestal and inscription, like those which stood in
the porch of the Temple of Bacal Shamin, and the one recently found in front of the
temple of Dushara. They are of small importance artistically, they are mostly of life
size, and are interesting only as showing the attempts of the Nabataean artists to
execute folds of drapery in the hard basalt. That they were covered with a fine stucco
and painted is evident from remains of fine plaster still adhering to some of the
fragments; but no vestige of the original colours remains. The most important piece
of sculpture discovered here by the Princeton Expeditions was a relief in basalt illustrating
the cult of Mithras which was found in front of the Temple of Dushara (Ill. 344, B).
The slab is almost intact, it measures 58 by 72 cm. and is about 10 cm. thick. The
1 cf. A. A. E. S. II, p. 343.
2 Div. II, Sect. A. Part 5, p. 324.